Nov 13, 2018 - Kerameikos Ancient Cemetary in Athens

Keramiekos Cemetery is just outside the walls that bordered the ancient city of Athens. Here lay the prominent citizens who were honoured with a burial at public expense. Thus, their tombs and markers were far above the norm. For this reason many of the relics are now in Athen’s premier archaeology museum. Even so, the small Kerameikos museum houses a handful of beautiful originals. Also, full-scale replicas of the museum pieces are placed in-situ, giving visitors a true sense of the layout and scale of this important historical cemetary....

Nov 13, 2018 - Athens, Greece

@@@@@@@ KAPOORS ON THE ROAD It had been a long time coming, and now everything worked out like clockwork. When we told my sister and her husband that we would be visiting Cyprus for the last two weeks of November, after roaming around Europe for six weeks, they jumped at the chance to meet up with us. They have just started their own retirement travels adventures, and spent several weeks in Spain. We decided it might be best to meet up in Athens and fly together to Larnaca. They arrived in Athens a few days earlier so they could see the...

Nov 12, 2018 - A Sprinkling of Egypt in Greece

As a fan of Egyptian religion/mythology - historical fiction to be honest - I was pleasantly surprise to find a small gallery of Egyptian artifacts in a Greek museum. So, here’s some real history that provides context as to why it exists. When Alexander The Great conqured Egypt in 332 BC the priests of the Egyptian god Amun “recognized” him to be a son of the god. He founded the city Alexandria in 331 BC , and he made Greek the official language. After him, Greeks ruled over Egypt until the death of the last Queen Cleopatra VII - who was a...

Nov 12, 2018 - Greece’s National Archaeological Museum

The National Archaeological Museum in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the greatest museums in the world and contains the richest collection of artifacts from Greek antiquity worldwide. During World War II the museum was closed and the antiquities were sealed in special protective boxes and buried, in order to avoid their destruction and looting. (Source - Wikipedia) It was both exhilarating and exhausting...

Nov 11, 2018 - Athens’ Authentic Marathon

Athens Nov 11 Marathon & Agoras We unexpectedly found ourselves in Athens for the 36th Authentic Athens marathon race. We were pleased to discover that the route would pass just a quarter block from our digs. We were there to watch the front runners - who finished last years race in the 2:12:17 to 2:28:57 time - as they passed the 40 km mark of the 42.195 km race. Seeing my first marathon in its founding city was pretty special. The atmosphere was quite festive what with drumming, rock bands, support teams, volunteers, balloon & snack...

Nov 10, 2018 - Athens’ Ancient Acropolis and its Modern Museum

The rocky hilltop in Athens known as the Acropolis has been inhabited since the Neolithic Era (3500-3000 BC. The iconic buildings at the top, however, were not built until 500 BC, what is known Classical (Greek) Period. These buildings (Parthenon, Erechtheion, Temple of Athena Nike, Propylaea) served a variety of Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other leaders/people. Contrary to my assumptions that the literal ruins - as in bits and pieces - were from ancient times, the buildings of the Acropolis actually withstood centuries of...

Nov 2, 2018 - Not quite the last entry - photo's added

Sunday 21 – Wednesday 24 October Headed back to Lefkada and anchored in Vliho and Tranquil bay. Just enjoying our time with the lovely weather. Wednesday 24 October Anchored near Kastos on Kastos Island. Nice anchorage. You can see it’s the end of the season. The town looked very closed down. Very few boats in the harbour. Thursday 25 October The wind had changed direction and had picked up in the morning. Our anchor drag alarm went off so we just got up and moved on. We got a sprightly sail in and anchored for a short while near Ak Skrota,...

Oct 12, 2018 - Santorini

When the boat arrived in Santorini harbour, I was overwhelmed by the reception of both humans and animals! The donkeys descended thick and fast down some of the steepest terrain I have ever seen, rushing to meet the ferry and haul the load of tourists up the steep steps to the town perched on the rocks above. Santorini is a submerged volcano that erupted eons ago, leaving a caldera behind. Its steep rock faces are covered with whitewashed villas clinging to the rock face like vines on a brick wall. There is a tradition in Santorini of...

Oct 1, 2018 - Santorini, Greece

The first of October was a pretty great day. The weather as we anchored off the island of Santorini was not good...we could hear thunder and there were dark clouds all around but as we boarded the locally provided tenders for our ride into the port – for lack of a better term – things started to improve. Today was Kathy’s turn to be under the weather and Dave decided to stay with her, but we eventually found him at a restaurant later in the day. We got off the tender and immediately hopped onto another for the short journey to the port at...

Sep 30, 2018 - Rhodes, Greece

Due to the port swap we pulled into Rhodes around 10:00am, within sight of the southwest coast of Turkey, so for the only time this cruise I was out on deck as we arrived. There isn’t much to see as you arrive, but just across the street from our dock is what is called the Old Town https://www.greecetravel.com/rhodes/oldtown.htm which is where we spent our day. We did a lot of walking – and some of our group did some shopping if you can believe that – then we sat down for lunch. It was a great plan; a cafe along the main pedestrian street...

Sep 29, 2018 - Zagoria

It was hard to leave Meteora with its towering rock formations and hill top Monasteries. So much we had never seen and so much more we wanted to see and learn about, but on we went. We headed to Metsovo, a small village nestled the Pindus Mountains of northern Greece. For some reason that we do not understand, these Greeks of these mountains like to build their villages on the side of mountains, not on level, valley floors. To get to the village square the bus maneuvered down a narrow, one lane road with homes on both sides so close you can...

Sep 29, 2018 - Athens, Greece

Our next port was the ancient, wet city of Athens. Yep, it rained all day...from the time we got off the Eclipse till the time the ship left, it rained. In fact, there had been talk onboard that this was a cyclone that had developed in the Mediterranean and I guess there was some merit to the rumor as schools in Athens were closed on Friday because of the impending disaster. In the end, the official explanation was that it was a low pressure system with a lot of rain...just our luck. Our travel agent had made arrangements for us to get a...